Chief Operating Officer

Chief Operating Officer

Berlin, Germany (On-site)

Salary: €150.000 - €200.000 + shares + kpi bonus + car

Start: ASAP

Languages: German B2 Level and English

I am working with an exciting client who are looking for a new COO who has experience in the QSR industry, if you are passionate about QSR then keep reading....

Role overview

Senior operational leader responsible for scaling a fast-growing, multi-site restaurant business, opening new stores monthly while protecting quality, profitability and brand standards.Translates the CEO’s vision into clear operating strategies, structures and processes, ensuring stores run efficiently, teams are trained and empowered, and financial KPIs are achieved.

Key responsibilities

Own day-to-day operations across all sites, working closely with the Head of Operations and store-level managers to deliver consistent guest experience, product quality and service standards.Design, implement and continuously improve operating guidelines, SOPs and playbooks that can scale with rapid growth (e.g. approx. one new store per month).Oversee store-level P&Ls: monitor sales, labour, COGS and controllables; challenge underperformance; and ensure each site meets or exceeds budgeted profit targets.Lead annual and monthly budgeting processes for operations; track results vs. plan and implement corrective actions quickly where needed.Build and standardise training frameworks for all restaurants, ensuring induction, operational, and leadership training are consistent across markets (currently around 720 team members in Germany).Create and enforce clear structures for handling operational requests from stores (maintenance, staffing, menu, marketing), ensuring prioritisation, ownership and timely completion.Partner with People/HR to support recruitment and succession planning for GMs and operations leaders, fostering a strong ownership mentality in every store.Set and monitor KPIs for operations (e.g. sales, EBITDA, labour %, mystery guest, NPS, speed of service, food safety scores) and drive continuous improvement.Act as main operational counterpart for other functions (Finance, Supply Chain, Marketing, Development), aligning on new store openings, menu changes and promotional campaigns.Report directly to the CEO/founders, providing regular updates on operational performance, risks and opportunities, and participating in strategic decision-making.

Profile & requirements

Several years’ experience in senior operations leadership (e.g. COO, Operations Director, Regional Director) in multi-unit, fast-casual or QSR-style restaurant concepts; strong preference for pure restaurant/retail background rather than classic hotel operations.Demonstrated ability to scale operations quickly while maintaining quality and standards in a high-growth environment.Strong P&L ownership mentality, highly analytical and comfortable with unit economics, budgeting and performance dashboards.Hands-on, solution-oriented leader who enjoys time in stores, understands frontline realities and can translate them into pragmatic, scalable processes.Proven track record building and leading high-performing operations teams, including direct leadership of Head of Operations and indirect leadership of all operations managers.Excellent organisational skills with the ability to prioritise and structure a high volume of requests from multiple locations.Languages: German at B2/C1 level and strong English required; additional European languages are a plus.